Request.ServerVariables("..") returns undefined when assigned to a variable yet its value can be displayed via Response.Write("..")

I am trying to retrieve the user's IP address and assign it to a variable:

```
var ipAddress = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR") ||
Request.ServerVariables("REMOTE_ADDR") ||
Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_HOST");

Response.Write(Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_HOST") + "<br />\n\n"); // produces "localhost"
Response.Write(Request.ServerVariables("REMOTE_ADDR") + "<br />\n\n"); // produces "::1"
Response.Write(Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR") + "<br />\n\n"); // produces "undefined"
Response.Write("ipAddress = " + typeof ipAddress + " " + ipAddress + "<br />\n\n"); // produces "ipAddress = object undefined"

```

I am using JScript for Classic ASP. I am unsure as to what to do at this point. Can anyone help?

Thanks

I solved the problem with obtaining the IP address, and the truthyness/falsyness of JScript is a complete and utter nightmare.

```
if (!String.prototype.isNullOrEmpty) {
String.isNullOrEmpty = function(value) {
return (typeof value === 'undefined' || value == null || value.length == undefined || value.length == 0);
};
}

var ipAddress = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR") ||
Request.ServerVariables("REMOTE_ADDR") ||
Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_HOST");

function getIPAddress() {
try {
if (String.isNullOrEmpty(ipAddress)) {
ipAddress = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR");
}

if (String.isNullOrEmpty(ipAddress)) {
ipAddress = Request.ServerVariables("REMOTE_ADDR");
}

if (String.isNullOrEmpty(ipAddress)) {
ipAddress = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_HOST");
}
} catch (e) {
Response.Write("From getIPAddress(): " + e.message);
hasErrors = true;
} finally {
return ipAddress;
}
}


ipAddress = getIPAddress();
Response.Write("ipAddress = " + typeof ipAddress + " " + ipAddress + "<br />\n\n"); // produces "object localhost"
```

Things work in ASP with JScript a little bit different than ASP with VBScript.

Since everything is an object in JavaScript, with `var ipAddress = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR")` you get an object reference instead of a string value because like most of other `Request` collections, the `ServerVariables` is a collection of `IStringList` objects

So, to make that short-circuit evaluation work as you expect, you need to play with the values, not the object references.

You can use the `Item` method that returns the string value of `IStringList` object if there's a value (the key exists), otherwise it returns an `Empty` value that evaluated as `undefined` in JScript.

```js
var ipAddress = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR").Item ||
Request.ServerVariables("REMOTE_ADDR").Item ||
Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_HOST").Item;
```